"Beaver, ahoy!""The bridge is like a magnet, attracting both pedestrians and over 30,000 vehicles daily who enjoy the views of Victoria's harbour. The skyline may change, but "Big Blue" as some call it, will always be there."
-City of Victoria website, 2009

I'm all for more highrises in Saanich. And yeah, they're an improvement on the recent construction around Christmas Hill, like the gated community on the southeastern side, and the housing that went in on the southwestern and northern sides over the last five years or so.

It's just too bad something like that couldn't have been built at the corner of Mackenzie and Quadra. But no, an intersection with two major bus routes across from a shopping centre is just perfect for that lovely one-story TD / Canada Trust building with its pretty little surface parking lot and drive-through ATM, in place of the apartment building that was there before. So let's build a highrise on farmland next to garry oak meadows and a nature preserve that's been kept in a relatively natural scale, near the top of a big hill!

Gah! Christmas Hill was the thing I liked most about living in that part of Saanich. And Saanich keeps letting people chip away at it. Because it's not close enough to enough peoples' "backyards" for anyone to put up a serious fuss.

Yeah, there's something ironic about how Victorians demand an arbitrary new useless park with every infill project and meanwhile they're clearing legitimate wild green space as if its potential for transformation into yet another subdivision was its only value.

A decision had to be made... more of the same cookie cutter small homes, all crammed in together with not a tree in sight, or...

Well, the idea as currently proposed, would be to keep every single Garry Oak, not a single one would be cut. The taller buildings would be located in a "hollow" (topographically), and thus when viewed from above will not project above the tree line. Buildings will be located in the natural meadows, minimal roads, all parking underground to maximize the natural setting.

To me, it's an unusual proposal, maybe not the best location for higher density, but it does maintain the same density as what would have been there if more of the homes like down below were built there, except this proposal keeps the trees and the great majority of the green space.... And BTW, if Saanich wanted more park, they could have bought it themselves.

I like the looks of this proposal.... and I'm thinking this is that lot where I used to go for parties occasionally back in the mid 90's... Had a run down farm home on it, but lots and lots of space.... Or is there another lot there that is similar.

[url=http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/capital_van_isl/story.html?id=512959ec-8c2c-477b-88f7-14962df0464a:2e494]Council sends proposal to public hearing[/url:2e494]

The eight-storey buildings are part of a 103-unit development proposal for the 3.8-hectare Christmas Hill site, near McKenzie Avenue just west of Rainbow Street. It would see 12 single-family homes and 27 attached houses scattered among the trees, as well as 64 condominiums in two eight-storey buildings on the lower portion.

The site has long been eyed by developers, who were discouraged in the past by its topography and vegetation -- it drops 41 metres in elevation from north to south and has several large stands of Garry oaks.

But architect Frank D'Ambrosio and developer Daniel Doore took that as a challenge. ...

Only Coun. Bob Gillespie voted against the proposal, largely to protest the lack of affordable housing in the region. Gillespie said he doesn't want to approve any development until more is done to address rental and lower-income housing.

Criticize a project all you want, but chastise it because it doesn't answer Saanich's lack of rental units (atop some of the most expensive real-estate, of all things)?

Know it all.Citified.ca is Victoria's most comprehensive research resource for new-build homes and commercial spaces.

SAANICH COUNCIL HAS APPROVED A NEW HOUSING DEVELOPMENT ON THE SOUTHWEST SLOPE OF CHRISTMAS HILL.

THE UNANIMOUS VOTE CAME FOLLOWING A LENGTHY PUBLIC HEARING LAST NIGHT. THERE ARE CONDITIONS ATTACHED, THAT WILL BE ADDRESSED IN THE FORM OF A COVENANT ATTACHED TO THE PROPERTY, AND IT WILL REQUIRE HIGHWAYS DEPARTMENT APROVAL BEFORE THE ZONING BY-LAW GETS FINAL READING.

THE DESIGN INCLUDES SOME SINGLE FAMILY HOUSING; SOME TOWNHOUSES; AND TWO EIGHT-STOREY APARTMENT-STYLE CONDOMINIUM BUILDINGS. THEY WOULD BECOME THE TALLEST BUILDINGS IN SAANICH.